What defines greatness? What matters most to us today? What will people actually (really) read? Those were some of the questions we faced while winnowing HONOLULU’s first-ever list of books every Islander should know, if not own.

After 35-plus years as a dressmaker, author Barbara Kawakami went back to school, earned a college degree and published her first book—about plantation clothing—at age 53, followed by the award-winning “Picture Bride Stories” last year.